• Sensor Technology Detects Fires Before They Start

    Fire alarms generally operate by detecting the presence of smoke, open flame, or higher-than-normal levels of carbon monoxide. Such indicators, however, are byproducts of a fire once it has already started. By using functional nanomaterials-based fire sensor technology, researchers hope to take a step forward from existing detection methods.

  • Mobile Data Collected While Traveling Over Bridges Could Help Evaluate Their Integrity

    A new study suggests mobile data collected while traveling over bridges could help evaluate their integrity.

  • Seismic Sensing Reveals Flood Damage Potential

    Rapidly evolving floods are a major and growing hazard worldwide. Currently, their onset and evolution are hard to identify using existing systems. Seismic sensors already in place to detect earthquakes could be a solution to this problem.

  • The Next Generation of Explosives Trace Detection is Here

    Launched in fiscal year 2020, NextGen Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) expands the scope of aviation checkpoints technology, resulting in the advancement of technologies that can quickly and accurately collect and analyze samples in a variety of ways, including from direct contact with the subject, non-contact sampling via vapors, and even through barriers.

  • Identifying and Neutralizing New Explosive Threats

    The IED threats from insurgent characterized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now the U.S. military is focusing on neutralizing bombs and mines that it could face in future conflicts against more advanced adversaries. DSI October 2022 EOD/IED & Countermine Symposium will highlight current initiatives toward identifying and neutralizing explosive threats to the homeland and critical infrastructure.

  • New System Could Provide Early Warning of Whakaari Eruption Risk

    Kiwi volcanologists and engineers have finished testing an automated system that provides a warning when an eruption on Whakaari (White Island) becomes more likely.

  • Iran Nuclear Weapons Breakout Time Remains at Zero

    A new report from the Institute for Science and International Security summarizes and assesses information in the (IAEA) quarterly safeguards report for 7 September 2022. The main finding: Iran’s breakout time, that is, the time between a political decision to produce a nuclear weapon and the completion of such weapon, remains at zero.

  • A Protein Could Prevent Chemical Warfare Attack

    A team of scientists has designed a synthetic protein that quickly detects molecules of a deadly nerve agent that has been classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction and could be used in a chemical warfare attack.

  • Next Generation Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Alerting Technology

    DHS S&T concluded a proof-of-concept demonstration of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) integration model. The model integrates next generation technologies with FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) enabling alerting authorities to disseminate Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) with new capabilities.

  • Wi-Fi System Improves Fire Detection

    Engineers have developed a new fire detection system that could help save lives by monitoring the changes in Wi-Fi signals. A Sydney Harbour Tunnel explosion showcases the work of the researchers, which use wireless signals and artificial intelligence to more accurately identify dangerous fire situations.

  • Are Attacks on Nuclear Plants Legal under International Law?

    As fears rise that there could be a nuclear disaster at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia plant, DW looks at the Geneva Conventions, to which both Russia and Ukraine are signatories. Targeting nuclear plants is not actually banned.

  • Situation at Europe's Largest Nuclear Plant “Out of Control”

    After Russian forces occupied a Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in March, the situation has deteriorated, experts say. The IAEA said that the reactor — Europe’s biggest — is “extremely vulnerable” to meltdown after all safety measures had been “violated” by Russian forces.

  • Making Muons for Scientific Discovery, National Security

    The Pentagon and other agencies have sought advanced sources that generate gamma rays, X-rays, neutrons, protons, and electrons to enable a variety of scientific, commercial, and defense applications – from medical diagnostics, to scans of cargo containers for dangerous materials, to non-destructive testing of aircraft and their parts to see internal defects. The problem: None of these sources can image through concrete walls several meters thick, map the core of a volcano from the outside, or peer deep underground to locate chambers and tunnels. Muons — deeply penetrating subatomic particles – can do all those things. DARPA seeks a compact source for muons.

  • Drones Approved for Aerial Inspections of Power Facilities

    Drones have allowed companies new ways to stretch the boundaries of current regulations. One of the latest wins for drone technology is a waiver from the FAA that gives Dominion Energy, one of the U.S. largest energy companies, permission to use drones to inspect power-generation facilities in seven states.

  • Deep Learning Technology for Faster and More Accurate Terahertz Security Inspection

    With the strengthening of global anti-terrorist measures, it is increasingly important to conduct security checks in public places to detect concealed objects carried by the human body. A new detection method can be used for accurate and real-time detection of hidden objects in terahertz images.